Drexel Open

The day began with very little breeze and the racing went immediately into postponement at 10:00. We were hopeful however since the forecast was to build in the afternoon. After about an hour ashore light wind came in from the forecast direction and the A division sailors went out on the course for their first two races as the Race Commitee worked to keep up with the shifting wind direction. As B division began to rotate out, the wind began to fade as the tidal Delaware Current was really kicking in, forcing the second postponement of the day.

Finally around 13:30 the wind began to fill in in earnest from the west, hoping this was the one that would stick sailors again went out for the first B Division rotation. Fighting through patchy wind and current two more races were completed as the wind allowed. Things were looking up, so A division came back out for 2 more. As the boats rotated, the wind went South, then West again... two final A division races were attempted in new breeze. Once again, the wind failed us.

Another postponement and no promise of the wind filling in lead us to call it a day. Drexel and Pitt kept it close on day 1 doing their best in the light air.

Sunday dawned with no wind on the water, but up aloft a gentle and just as important consistent breeze was moving the flags on the yacht club flagpole. After a brief postponement, the first two race got off around 10:30 taking advantage of the slack tide with winds 4-5 kts out of the SSW. By 11:15 as the second rotation of A was finally complete, the winds slackened to 3-3.5 kts, once again, just in time for a rotation. As the B division boats struggled to make it from the docks, we once again went into postponement. Unlike Saturday the breeze never completely stopped or flipped direction, so a little patience was needed for it to build back in.

By 12:30 wind readings at the weather mark were back up to 4.5-5.5 knots so the teams were summoned out one more time. This time the breeze held building to 5.5-6.5 knots for the start of the B division racing for the day and only got better.

Races quickly went off now completing another A and B rotation, plus a quick 1 and 1 rotation to finish out the regatta around 14:30. During these last few races the sailors were challenged to a game of "Dodge 'Em" as recent storms had put some large debris in the river that the tide was sweeping back up into the course. Obstruction!?!

Drexel, managing to rotate in most of our active sailors, while also managed to win the regatta. Monmouth, Pitt, and UMBC all were in the mix for 2nd, Monmouth sailing better in the more consistent breeze of Day 2 just edged out Pitt for Second and Third respectively. Thank you to the all the sailors who were patient and persevered through difficult conditions.

Thanks to all the Drexel Sailors helping run the event, and our host club Corinthian Yacht Club of Philadelphia for squeezing us in while hosting 2 other events plus High School Sailing.

-Craig Priniski Head Coach, Drexel Sailing

The following chart shows the relative rank of the teams as of the race indicated. Note that the races are ordered by number, then division, which may not represent the order in which the races were actually sailed.

The first place team as of a given race will always be at the top of the chart. The spacing from one team to the next shows relative gains/losses made from one race to the next. You may hover over the data points to display the total score as of that race.